On this day in 1904, burlesque legend Sally Rand was born. Born Helen Harriet Beck, she started out as a silent film actress and was given her stage name by legendary film director and producer, Cecil B. Demille, who was inspired by the Rand-McNally atlas. Following the decline of silent films, she became a dancer and is known for popularizing the fan dance, still a regular routine in burlesque today. Her most famous performance of the dance was at the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, where she was arrested four times for indecent exposure while riding a white horse down the streets of Chicago. She would be arrested multiple times throughout her lifetime on similar charges but the charges were always dismissed, since her perceived “nudity” was usually an illusion, with Rand wearing a body suit. Here she is performing the dance that made her famous.

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